French Enlightenment, from the court of Versailles to Agen

Already renowned for its collections of eighteenth-century French painting, the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Agen has built around them an exhibition that ranks among the richest of the year: its density suggests that it might have been “sold off in slices” and spun out into several separate events. The rather singular layout of the itinerary, which compelling conservation requirements oblige to be structured in a series of boxes cleverly fitted into the former Jacobins church as at the time of the Goya exhibition (see the article), almost allows visitors to lose their way, or at least to wander in the order of their choosing, or rather of their taste. Around the paintings seized at the château d’Aiguillon during the Revolution, the founding core of the museum but above all of this exhibition, the itinerary traces back to the origins of this mythical aristocratic collection by evoking the figures of Cardinal Richelieu and his niece, the duchesse d’Aiguillon. A family tree - more than welcome - helps visitors to find their bearings in this noble nebula, while one admires the bust of the minister and the portrait of his heiress (ill. 1), exceptionally lent by the Labirinto della Masone di Franco Maria Ricci in Parma. A masterpiece by Philippe de Champaigne, this sumptuous portrait of the Cardinal’s niece is little known and alone can symbolise both the success and the shortcomings of the exhibition, rich in dazzling loans yet sometimes tenuously linked to the château d’Aiguillon or to Agen.

One could hardly complain, however, of enjoying an exhibition admittedly abundant yet condensing at once an appealing overview of the family collections, passing from the duchesse d’Aiguillon to Duke Emmanuel-Armand, minister to Louis XV and the keystone of the subject: the great man of the family in the eighteenth century is logically present in Agen, whose museum endeavours to assemble his likenesses (see the news item of 2/8/19) and has called upon the château de Versailles to evoke his life and career. The latter dispatched one of its curators, Lionel Arsac, as well as Delphine Desbourdes of the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles: the architectural historian contributes several essays to the catalogue on the duke’s role as builder. One must also salute the generosity of the château’s loans, which has thus sent to the provinces eminent masterpieces including the extraordinary porphyry head (ill. 2) of Alexander the Great, which the duchesse d’Aiguillon gave to François Girardon, who enriched it with a suit of armour in green marble and gilded bronze: the ensemble was purchased on behalf of Louis XV in 1738 and placed in the Cabinet du Conseil…